sick p.disjunctivus ?

[SpunkyTheMonkey]

my baby p.disjunctivus is looking kinda sick.

he started getting a white patch on his tail, (before the actual caudal fin) which slowly spread all the way down the tail and up his body to the top of his dorsal fin. piccy here.

the tank is cycling atm but levels are all under control...i'm testing and doing pwc every 2 days. he shares a 56L/15USG tank with 3 goldfish and yes i know, goldfish + plecs wasn't a good idea, and yes i know that a 15USG won't be big enough *forever* but they're all babies atm and they'll get a new tank as soon as i can afford it.

*about* the time this started happening, i gave the tank one dose of tetra goldmed (formaldehyde & malachite green) as one of the goldies was getting some fungus on his forehead but a pwc and one dose of goldmed cleared that up.

could goldmed have this have caused the prob? this was almost 2 weeks ago now. don't know what to do...

1. Water parameters
a) Temperature. - 24c
b) pH. - 7.5
c) GH. - ??
d) KH - ??
e)Ammonia - 0, Nitrite - ~0.3 mg/l, Nitrate ~12.5 mg/l....(that's just *before* a pwc)
f) Water change frequency. - every 2 days (tank cycling)

2. Tank set up
a) Size. - 56L/15USG
b) Substrate. - gravel
c) Filtration. - crappy juwel filter which came with the tank...it's *ok* but not great
d) Furnishings. - bog wood and plastic plants
e) Other tank mates. - 3 goldfish (also babies)
f) How long has it been set-up? - 4 weeks
g) When was the last new fish added? - 3 weeks ago (the plec)
h) Foods used and frequency? - varied diet for goldies (flakes, shrimp, veg, fd bloodworms etc). daily courgette/zucchini and sera wels chips for the plec.

[SpunkyTheMonkey]

just got a better pic: here.

also i forgot to mention he's been hanging near the water line for a couple of days but the goldies are showing no signs of lethargy or hanging at the surface so i think the oxygen content of the water is ok...

[MatsP]

Nitrite - ~0.3 mg/l

So the tank is still cycling (yes, I saw that comment that says it is).

I'd say that this is a big part of the problem.

I'd say that the problem is some sort of parasite or bacterial infection. It will probably heal on its own with good water quality, but some "general fungus and bacterial" medication will probably not hurt. The gold-med would do as that.

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Mats

[SpunkyTheMonkey]

ok, i've seen different people talking about half-dosing stuff like gold-med for small plecs, or for all scaleless fish in general...but i've not heard this from anyone except pretty random people on forums.

opinions welcome. replies pointing out the irony of asking for them on a forum, not so much.

[MatsP]

Well, there are certainly some medication that states that you should use half a doze for certain types of fish. You need to read the lable to see if it is the case for this medication.

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Mats